Bac Ha Market

On Saturday, I left Sapa to continue my journey up North. There is a famous Sunday market in Bac Ha which I wanted to visit, where local ethnic communities gather to sell their produce. I first had to take a mini-bus back to Lao Cai, then transfer onto a local bus for the 70 km ride to Bac Ha village. I ended up on a bus packed with as many random objects as there were people. There was even a motorbike in the middle of the bus! My legs were propped up onto bags of tiles for the entire 3 hour ride, and the roof was full of boxes too. When people got off, they took their merchandise with them! Once in Bac Ha, I quickly found a guest house recommended by the Lonely Planet. I then settled for an early night as I wanted to have an early start the following day.

I woke up at 6:30 am and went walking around the market. Starting early meant that I would be there before any other tour groups and get to experience the market fully. The main attraction here are the Flower Hmong tribe, who are known for their distinctive outfits. Loads of colourfully dressed women were gathered, selling all sorts of handicrafts, vegetables, textiles, souvenirs and other knick-knacks. There wasn't another tourist until about 8:30 which was amazing and allowed me to take many pictures.

Sanitary much?

Who wants some chicken?

Flower Hmong wearing their colourful woven dress

This is only one small part of the market - very busy!

 Apart from the usual fresh produce market items on sale, a fascinating aspect of the day was the fresh market, where cattle, horses, pigs and even dogs are bought and sold. I will never forget the horrified squeals of the pigs being pulled by a single rope on their leg and the dogs in cages sold there.

Poor piggies... they were still alive.

Yes, they do sell dogs for consumption. Quite disturbing.

After over three hours wandering around the new and intriguing world of Bac Ha market, I set off to find some breakfast. Having been in Vietnam for a month, there were a few key words which I was able to recognise in Vietnamese menus. This was lucky because I was in a very non-touristy town and the busiest restaurant (alwyas a good sign!) had no English menu. I ordered Bhun Cho. I knew Bhun was vermicelli noodles, so that was a good start. Indeed, I received a vermicelli noodles soup. However, the dark-brown meat and strong smell were far from appealing. Being the only tourist in the restaurant, I didn't want to make a big fuss. I tried to swallow a few noodles, but the taste was repugnant. I quietly walked to the waiter and asked how much my meal was, trying to run out without making them feel bad that I didn't eat their food.

While walking back to my hotel, I kept repeating the name of the dish in my head: ''Bhun Cho, Bhun Cho, I'm sure I've read this before...'' Just as I entered the hotel lobby, it dawned on me: CHO means DOG! ''No, it can't be!''. I ran up the stairs to my room and jumped on my guide book and read the awful truth... Cho means dog, I had just eaten DOG SOUP!

Needless to say this was enough to cut my appetite for the rest of the day.

Magnificent Sapa

Oh how I had dreamed of Sapa. This was the epiphany of my trip, what I had been waiting for all along. After more than two months travelling, I could not wait to get lost in the beauty of the green, foggy mountains of rice fields!

Unfortunately, Chris had to stay in Hanoi because he needed to get his work permit sorted out for Thailand. With only a few days left, I decided that a short independent trip would be great for me anyway, a new experience and a reason to test my ability to travel solo.

After saying goodbye to Chris, I took a taxi to the train station Friday evening. I had read that overnight sleeper trains offer comfort and security. Road safety being an issue and having tried long-haul buses in Vietnam already, I was keen to try something new. The train stops in Lao Cai, which is 38 km outside of Sapa. I didn't want to book tickets through my hotel because I knew they overcharged you, so I went straight at the station around 7:30 pm, thinking I would have many departure options. Big mistake. All trains were full!!! I panicked a bit but there was no way I was taking a taxi back to the hotel. I was determined to go to Sapa that night. I spent a long while going from window to window, begging and pleading, and overall not taking no for an answer! I'm not quite sure how it happened and I am positive I overpaid (500 000 dong), but I finally got an employee to sell me a ticket! I ended up in a 4-bed sleeper with 3 locals! The girls were friendly and smiled at me, but the men smoked all night inside our cabin so that was very rude. I considered telling them I was pregnant so to please go outside but I decided against it... I preferred being friendly and safe as I was going to have to sleep with them! In any case, it sure felt like an adventure was starting.

We arrived in Lao Cai at 5:30am. I was groggy, but excited. A hoard of mini-buses were waiting to shuttle us to Sapa. When they got full, they left. It took about 50 minutes of intense driving through steep curves and narrow roads, going up and around the mountains. What a view! With grey mist surrounding deep green rice fields, I got more and more excited at every turn. When we arrived in Sapa, I got to walk around town and look for a hotel. Although it was very early (around 8:00am), hotels there are used to early arrivals because of the train schedule, so it was not a problem. I found a lovely, cheap hotel (10$ a night) on a cliff with magical views. After checking-in, I went to explore town and get breakfast!

My first glimpse at Sapa - View from my hotel

Dreams come true!

After breakfast, my first mission was to book a trek. I shopped long and hard, weighing my options carefully and ready my Lonely Planet thoroughly... in the end, I found out that most companies offer the exact same itineraries for single day tours. Also, by observing some tours leaving that morning, I noticed that many of them just follow each other! For those reasons, I opted for a quite reasonably priced tour. Turns out I was right to do this as in fact, I was paired up with people who had paid a lot more than me for the same excursion. The trek around the Sapa Valley was for 5 hours, guided by a Hmong tribe member, going around the surrounding cascading rice paddies and mountain villages.

I decided to go for my walk that same day. It was a bit insane after all night travelling but it was my best option as I had plans to visit Bac Ha Sunday market which involved travelling on Saturday. My guide was lovely and tiny (!). She told me about the work options for Hmong women and their lifestyle. It was very interesting. The trek was super muddy and my hotel actually recommended for me the rent rubber boots to walk in! It turned out to be a great advice as I did slip a few times and all the mud would have ruined my shoes.

Sapa

My first time seeing and touching rice!

We walked along Muong Hoa River surrounded by rice paddy terraces. We visited some of the local tribes villages and even visited a school and ate lunch at a Black Hmong villagers' house.

Local school in the mountains - what an amazing experience for me as a teacher!

Children that are too young to attend classes just sit outside (butt naked) for their older siblings

My walk in Sapa was great and made for a truly memorable day. 

My tiny guide and I

Hanoi

It was now time to visit the capital of the country! Because of taxi fares being inconsistent and not standardized, we often opted for walking rather than having to hassle. Meters have been known to work normally at first, but after you've let your guard down, it jumps to astronomical amounts just before the destination. We did get tricked a few times and it makes you feel so vulnerable when the meter starts jumping really fast and there's nothing you can do apart from hoping your eyes are tricking you! Also, many drivers speak very limited English so you almost need to know where you're going yourself! Our hotel being in the Old Quarter, this made it very easy to explore on foot anyway.

Than Lon Park

Apart from the usual temples visit, walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, and street food sampling, one activity worth mentioning was an evening to the water puppet show. I was so excited to finally see this famous form of artistry and I was not disappointed. There are live musicians on stage who accompany the wooden puppets dancing in the water. Although the songs and dialogues are in Vietnamese, some English subtitles are provided which give you an idea of the plot. I was mostly impressed with the last act where the puppeteers appeared with their puppets for the grand finale. Traditionally, water puppet shows were performed in rice fields, which I think is an interesting fact!

Water Puppet Theatre

Puppeteers in their final pose

Another culturally interesting activity was visiting Hoa Lo Prison where the French held many Vietnamese revolutionaries. We saw old torture rooms and cells, as well as many graphic photographs of prisoners. During the Vietnam war, American POW's were also held at the prison, which was then called Hanoi Hilton. The exhibition was very interesting, but also completely one-sided. There were plenty of photos of prisoners being treated well and writing letters to their families about how much they love Vietnam from behind their jail bars and saying they will never forget the friendships they forged with their prison guards! It gave us flashbacks of the War Museum in Ho Chi Minh and reminded us of the omniscient propaganda in the Republic.

Chris trying to joke around to relieve some of the tension from visiting such a sad place

All in all, Hanoi is what you read in guide books: insane traffic, tasty street food, plenty of culture! We thoroughly enjoyed exploring this city!

Another delicious meal in Hanoi!

Halong Bay

It was now time to make our way up North to the big city. We boarded a night bus and slept until the morning when we arrived in Hanoi. Staying in the Old Quarter seemed like a must. Narrow streets adorned with red Chinese lanterns, old buildings, hawkers stalls and thousands of motorbikes greeted us. However, our first mission wasn’t to dwell in the city, but rather to book a cruise to visit the famous Halong Bay.

With hundreds of different tours geared for every possible type of tourist, I must admit we felt completely out of our depth trying to figure out which company to choose from. Should we splurge and get a big cruise ship with luxurious cabins, or backpack it and risk sleeping with rats and eating ant-rice for dinner? After a long of reading on the subject, we ended up settling for simple day trips around the islands, and sleeping on land. We didn’t want to risk spending loads of money and being disappointed, or being cheap and regretting it.

We had read that Halong city itself was gloomy, but the nearby Cat Ba island was beautiful and offered a good alternative for lodging and an excellent base for exploring Halong Bay. We stayed on Lan Ha Bay in a decent hotel with breathtaking views of the limestone cliffs on the bay. Most tour agents around offered similar day trips for similar prices. We booked one and set off the next day on our mini adventure!

The view from our hotel on Cat Ba Island

Boat trips on the bay

I must admit we were a bit jaded from having lived in Phuket for two years because the views of Halong Bay reminded us of Krabi, which was at our door step for all these months. It seemed like nothing new to us, plus the weather was a bit grey which didn’t make for fantastic vistas. We stopped at a fishing village and grotto, then we went kayaking around, and finally to a beach with monkeys after lunch. The kayaking was my favourite part as you could feel the immensity of your surroundings, plus it was very peaceful and quiet. On the beach in the afternoon, we thought it was a bit sad to see the monkey’s behaviour affected by daily tour visits. They grabbed empty cans of coke and beer and tried drinking sips. Overall, we did enjoy the tour, but maybe we would have been able to see more with an overnight trip. I know most people I talk to tell me Halong Bay was one of their trip's highlights.

Fishing Village in Halong Bay

Beautiful experience kayaking in the bay

Paradise Cave and Eco Trail

For our second day in the evergreen jungle of Phong Nha, we went to visit the longest dry cave in the world, Paradise Cave. Situated 14 km outside of Son Trach, the cave can be reached by motorbike taxi, which we hired in the town centre. We enjoyed the bike ride on the wide, empty roads. Strangely, the National Park is strictly guarded by the Vietnamese military and access is limited. Apparently, some tourists can be turned back and refused entrance. The guards did seem unhappy to let us in, but finally approved, after talking with our drivers. It seems like an odd reaction, one would think foreign visitors, which are rare in this part of Vietnam, would be welcomed more openly as they bring income to the place. 

Once we got to the entrance of the park, we decided to purchase the electric buggie ride to take us from the ticket office to the bottom of the 500 step staircase, consciously saving our energy.

Paradise Cave was quite impressive, built-up with a boardwalk to explore deep inside. We were allowed to go 1 km deep. Stalagmites and stalactites adorned the cave which is in fact 31 km long. Unfortunately, tour groups shouting and tour guides with their microphones did ruin the experience for us. We would have liked the other tourists to feel as serene as us and enjoy the deep silence experienced in such a huge cave. At least we had some moments of peace and took our time to explore slowly, letting groups pass in front and trying to soak up the experience as much as possible. 

After the tour, we hopped back on our motorbikes and drove to Nuoc Mooc Eco trail for a nice trek in the Vietnamese heat! We walked along the turquoise river, through little bamboo bridges. 

We heard there were some clear water streams to bathe in and found a nice spot to swim. Despite the voracious mosquitoes, we had a good time cooling off in the middle of the forest.

Phong Nha and Tien Son Cave

After a night in the village on Son Trach, we set off to find where to purchase tickets for the boat which would take us to the famous caves we were there to visit. We found a small log cabin by the water, which sold boat trips on the Son river for 220,000 don, taking us to Phong Nha cave. We navigated through the countryside on a small, wooden motor boat, past bathing buffalos and green hills. We even saw a church!

Once we got to the entrance of the grotto, the engine was cut off and we got paddled through the cavern, adorned by cheesy lights with dimmers and colour changes.

We got to walk through parts of the cave and feel the cool humidity. Once outside, we climbed up the 300 steps towards a second cave called Tien Son Cave. 

We enjoyed the exercise and the view on the valley we got from up high.

Overall, the excursion lasted about 3 hours, including the boat trip and exploring both caves. There are vendors selling drinks along the way which is useful as the humidity is quite tiring.

Off the beaten track in Phong Nha-Ke Ban

We definitely wanted to visit the main sites of the Vietnam, but we chose the road less traveled when we stopped in Phong Nha. That, and it was a practical pit stop between the midlands and northern Vietnam. Not only is it a national park, it’s also a Unesco World Heritage Site. The main attractions are its caves and grottoes.

We had to take a train from Hue (on hard, wooden seats) in coaches packed with locals who ate funky smelling snack and smoked cigarettes. Some elderly people actually laid-down on the floor underneath the seats to rest during the journey. Luckily, the ride to Dong Hoi was only 4 hours. We then intended to transfer from the train to a local bus which would have taken us to Son Trach village in two hours (100 km). Unfortunately, there was no train running that day, but as things often work out, we had befriended the only two other tourists on the train and found out we were both heading to Phong Nha. We were then able to afford a private taxi ride which was affordable enough and avoided an overnight stay in the port town.

When we arrived in Son Trach Village, we were quite surprised to be dropped off on a highway looking street, lined with a few shops and couple of hotels. It was literally a ghost town.  We settled in the hotel which had the best value and looked for somewhere to eat... only one restaurant was opened! We later found out that every restaurant in town had the exact same menu printed in English. We ended up eating at the same place every day as it all looked a bit dodgy.

We had been warned by our Lonely Planet that Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park could be hard to access as information is very limited on the ground and some officials can be less than helpful to independent travellers. Indeed, we witnessed first hand that the main income comes from organised tours which arrive in big buses and head straight to the caves. This explains why the village was deserted. The next day, we would set to explore the park with our new acquaintances.